Van Vleuten takes it all in Colindres
September 8 th 2022 - 21:12 [GMT + 2]
The Dutch star Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) displayed all her strength to win stage 2 of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta 22 in Colindres. The winner of the Giro and the Tour turned the race upside down on the penultimate ascent of the day, the cat-1 climb of Fuente las Varas, and opened a gap of 2’16’’ to her closest chasers in the final 30km of racing. She takes the red jersey as the overall leader with a gap of 1’55’’ to Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).
The day began with several attacks as the peloton headed for the first ascent of Fuente de las Varas (cat. 2). Lucinda Brand (Trek Segafredo) and Sarah Roy (Canyon-Sram) led the way to the summit and progressively increased their advantage until it exceeded three minutes to a peloton led by BikeExchange-Jayco and Movistar.
The Spanish team insisted and gap decreased on the sloped of Campo Layal (La Aparecida), a cat-1 ascent. Wearing the red jersey as the race leader, Elisa Longo Borghini, (Trek Segafredo) crashed without major consequences on the climb. She rejoined the group a few kilometres later. The strong pace set by Sara Martín and Aude Biannic for Movistar ended up breaking the early move on the second climb of Fuente de las Varas, from a differnt side (cat. 1). Van Vleuten then took on the charge, forming a leading group alongside Longo Borghini, Demi Vollering (SD Worx), Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) and Liane Lippert (Team DSM).
The last winner of the Ceratizit Challenge crowned solo with a difference of 55” with her chasers. The gap slightly increased on the last ascent of the day to Campo La Cruz (cat. 2), up to a minute and a half. Van Vleuten held her position all the way to the finish in Colindres with Longo Borghini in second, trailing by 2'16'' alongside Lippert and Vollering. The veteran star from Movistar stated that it was a special victory due to the great work of her teammates before her attack.
Longo Borghini is now in second place overall at 1'55'' with Vollering third (+2'24''). 'Miek' also leads the points classification with 25 points and Lucinda Brand is the Queen of the mountains with 28 points. Australia's Sarah Roy takes the white jersey for the combativity.
On Friday, the peloton will face a day with two climbs. The first will be the Alto de Hijas (3rd category) in the early parts of the stage, while the 16-kilometre Hoces de Bárcena (2nd category) will make the selection the finish line in Aguilar de Campóo. In total, the peloton will complete 96.4 kilometers.
